Chapter 76

Chapter 76

One day ago.

“Ryeong-a, I have something to tell you.”

“I know.”

After the competition ended, Oh Ryeong pouted her lips as she answered Baek Riyun, who had called only her to a private room and spoke quietly.

“You’re going to tell me to be careful with my behavior, right?”

“I know. That much, at least.”

Oh Ryeong turned her head slightly after responding curtly. She had somewhat guessed why Baek Riyun had called her.

It’s a sensitive time. Isn’t this a time when everyone is evaluating the Muryeongwando and keeping their antennae up for their movements?

In times like this, there’s only one reason to call her specifically instead of Seonwoo Gang or Seomun Cheok. It’s because there’s only one thing she’s particularly outstanding at compared to them.

“I’ll tone down my temper. I don’t want to be a burden to Munjunim or others…… Is that okay?”

Oh Ryeong knows herself too. She knows she’s hot-blooded, and that she’s not good at restraining herself when she should. But it’s not like she can’t distinguish between right and wrong.

If that’s all it is, it’s nothing. It’s not even for long, just enduring for about two weeks isn’t a big deal, is it?

“No.”

In front of Oh Ryeong, who had spoken nonchalantly thinking so, Baek Riyun gently shook his head.

“It’s the opposite.”

“……What? The opposite?”

“Yes. If a situation comes where you absolutely can’t bear it, make sure to ram right into it. I’ll take responsibility for the aftermath.”

“What? Huh?”

“I’m asking you to take on the ‘anger’ on behalf of the Muryeongwando.”

Baek Riyun, who finished speaking, met the eyes of Oh Ryeong, who was making a bewildered expression. Oh Ryeong made a puzzled expression, unable to grasp what Baek Riyun was saying.

Like Oh Ryeong’s thoughts, it’s true that now is a sensitive time. With the first victory, discrimination toward the Muryeongwando has surfaced, and the small and medium sects and righteous warriors who are angry about it are slowly gathering.

In this situation, most of those who show unfavorable eyes toward the Muryeongwando would be from Gupa Ilbang or the Five Great Families—those who want Mujeong Hall to win. If they ram into such people, the Orthodox Path could split in two and cause conflict. So normally, the most important thing would be not to cause problems.

Isn’t that the situation of the martial world?

“I felt it while watching the first gate. You still think you’re lacking compared to the Mujeongwando.”

“……But that’s true. We’ve improved a lot, but…….”

“No.”

Baek Riyun shook his head, cutting her off decisively.

“Looking at individuals, you may be lacking in martial power compared to the Mujeongwando. Even if you can reverse it in the future, that’s not wrong. However, if Muryeon Hall as a whole and Mujeong Hall as a whole were to clash—you are in no way inferior to Mujeong Hall.”

Individuals and groups are different.

No matter how excellent the martial power of Mujeong Hall individuals is, whether they’re strong as a group is a separate issue. For example, if I were to give an example, would it be like this?

Each individual Plum Blossom Swordsman  is stronger than Shaolin Temple’s One Hundred Eight Arhats . It’s natural when you consider that the title of Plum Blossom Swordsman itself is only allowed to those who have received the full transmission of the Plum Blossom Sword. Since Huashan Sect’s Plum Blossom Swordsmen don’t exceed fifty, it’s natural.

But what if 108 Plum Blossom Swordsmen and all of Shaolin Temple’s One Hundred Eight Arhats clashed?

Even so, could the Plum Blossom Swordsmen guarantee victory?

“You’re too withdrawn. Even though you’ve shaken it off again and again, you’re still subconsciously thinking that way.”

“I want to tell you to shake off that thought right now, but the subconscious is called the subconscious because it doesn’t go as you think. So I’m going to try a different method.”

“A different method……?”

“Anger.”

Baek Riyun, wearing a faint smile, tapped his head with his finger and continued speaking.

“When your eyes turn, you can’t be intimidated.”

Ram into them. In place of the Muryeongwando who are being careful with their behavior, you do it.

That’s what Baek Riyun said. If a situation comes where you absolutely can’t bear it, absolutely don’t endure it. He’ll handle all the aftermath.

And.

Now it has come to this.

“What, did you say.”

Seeing Namgung Su, who seemed flustered and couldn’t connect his words properly, Oh Ryeong burst into a smirk and swept her hand across the edge of the table. The rough texture of the wooden table rising up.

“You told him to apologize to Elder Muryeonggaek and my comrades, right? As far as I know, Elder Muryeonggaek has a higher seniority.”

“Isn’t that right?”

Namgung Su couldn’t easily answer Oh Ryeong’s words and chose his words carefully. That’s because it wasn’t wrong.

Muryeonggaek’s seniority is one generation higher than Namgung Su. Muryeonggaek had been making a name in the martial world at least ten years before Namgung Su entered it.

However, the reason Namgung Su could simply ignore this and proceed was because of his family’s reputation and his own martial power.

Oh Ryeong dug into that point.

“Are you telling him to bow his head to such a coward?”

“He’s not someone who should be belittled as a coward. Isn’t he at least much braver than Hero Namgung?”

“Ha! What do you know to be spouting such nonsense? That bastard is a coward who abandoned his comrades and fled in a joint operation with the Namgung Family fifteen years ago! Because he was afraid to come to the battleground, to save just his own life! Do you know how many casualties occurred in the main family because of that!”

At the growling appearance of Namgung Su, the shoulders of Muryeonggaek, who had been standing dumbfounded, flinched. Because those words weren’t lies. It was true that he actually didn’t participate in the joint operation.

“Is it true……?”

“If something like that happened, then that attitude is…….”

The murmuring of the spectators watching from inside the tavern grew louder. The eyes that had been looking at a person from a small sect standing up to the tyranny of a great sect changed to eyes looking at a coward and a weakling. The old truth was approaching.

“Bullshit.”

To Oh Ryeong, and to Dan Riyeon, those words were not the truth.

“What, what. Bullshit……?”

“I said bullshit. Why?”

“This outrageous……! To defend a coward, you must have lost your mind too!”

“I think the one who’s lost their mind is Hero Namgung. If Elder Muryeonggaek were really a coward and had fled from the operation, would the Namgung Family, or would the Murim Alliance, have left Elder Muryeonggaek alone all this time? At least he wouldn’t have been able to show his face here.”

At Oh Ryeong’s words, the heads of the watching spectators nodded automatically. The Murim Alliance wasn’t lenient toward deserters during operations.

“Hey, do you know where she’s from?”

Oh Ryeong, who had pulled Dan Riyeon closer, glared at Namgung Su while gritting her teeth.

“She’s from Tongren . Fifteen years ago, demons ran rampant there, and as a result, the Murim Alliance had to step in and recapture that region.”

“……What does that have to do with anything?”

“At that time, the Namgung Family took a strategy of pushing straight to the enemy’s center to minimize damage to their forces. Because that resulted in less damage than surrounding and closing in on that huge demon territory .”

“It was a good strategy.”

“I suppose so. From the Namgung Family’s perspective. Except that it was only a method to reduce the Namgung Family’s damage.”

Driving an overwhelming military force straight to the center of enemy territory. Then annihilating the great demon , which is the core of the demon territory.

If that happens, the demon territory can be eliminated quickly. Military damage can also be minimized. However, if that operation is executed, inevitably all the small fry demons can’t be annihilated. Small fry demons who confirm the demon territory has collapsed will naturally scatter and flee in all directions.

Then who would suffer damage? The gathered Namgung Family? The Murim Alliance guarding the key strongholds?

No.

Scattered here and there.

The villages that know nothing except farming for a living.

“The Murim Alliance is already stretched just protecting the cities. At most fifty households—the Murim Alliance doesn’t have the manpower to even protect such villages. Such villages were clearly abandoned pawns.”

Demons swarm in.

Even miscellaneous demons are much stronger than people who haven’t learned martial arts. Even if ten adult men cling to a very weak demon, it’s common that they can’t stop it. A horde of such demons swarms in. What does that mean?

The village is annihilated. Without even being able to flee, without even recognizing that demons are swarming in.

Miserably.

“—At least, he thought he should buy them time to flee.”

Muryeonggaek thought so and acted.

At the cost of his own death.

Abandoning the operation.

“She was the last survivor of that village.”

Dan Riyeon closed her mouth after seeing her parents being torn apart and eaten by demons right before her eyes. What was it called, selective mutism? She became unable to speak. And Muryeonggaek took in such a Dan Riyeon.

Last year, when Dan Riyeon was drunkenly making meaningless hand gestures, it was a story Oh Ryeong heard directly. That she definitely wants to be of help to Master. To Master, who is no different from a benefactor.

“Apologize.”

“I don’t know what kind of life you’ve lived. Perhaps your relatives suffered because of that action. But even so, there’s no reason for him to hear the insult of being a coward. To my friend, he’s a hero.”

At Oh Ryeong’s words through gritted teeth, the spectators nodded and looked at Namgung Su. Since if he had completely fled it would be one thing, but it’s unjust to be called a coward for deviating from the operation to practice righteousness, many thought so.

“This is absurd.”

Namgung Su was not of that opinion.

“Righteousness. Righteousness, you say. Good. If one is a person of the Orthodox Martial World, naturally they should pursue righteousness.”

“Then.”

“But ten casualties occurred in the Namgung Family due to that operation. All of them were members of the Azure Vault Sword Corps , the core of the Namgung Family. Do you know how many people one member of the Azure Vault Sword Corps saves in a year?”

“Ten thousand. One hundred members of the Azure Vault Sword Corps save ten thousand lives. That’s in one year.”

Ten of one hundred died. If those ten had been alive, the people they could have saved wouldn’t have been just one or two.

“Among the martial artists of our family…… no, among the martial artists of Gupa Ilbang and the Five Great Families, there’s no one who doesn’t want to practice righteousness. They just suppress their sense of righteousness and carry out their missions to save more people!”

Namgung Su, who poured out his passionate speech, looked at Muryeonggaek with cold eyes.

“Deserting from a mission because you want to save the lives before your eyes is, in the end, no different from increasing future casualties for your own petty satisfaction. That’s what makes a coward. Thinking that only your own conscience is everything!”

“……If one person dying now must be left alone so that two people can live later, would you leave that one person to die?”

“Yes. Because that’s efficient.”

“……Hero Namgung seems to think the life of one person to be saved now is lighter than the lives of two people who might be saved later.”

“Isn’t that obvious?”

Watching Namgung Su answer without a shred of hesitation, Oh Ryeong gritted her teeth and clenched her fists tightly. And.

“What kind of righteousness is……!”

The moment Oh Ryeong’s roar was about to burst out.

Along with trudging footsteps.

“I came late to check on the situation, but you’re having an interesting conversation.”

A low voice resonated through the tavern.

“……Mu, Munjunim?”

At Oh Ryeong’s voice, full of confusion, Baek Riyun nodded lightly and stood beside Oh Ryeong. Namgung Su unconsciously took a step back, overwhelmed by that presence.

“……You are.”

“Don’t we know each other? It seems my disciples have been in your debt, Young Hero Namgung Su.”

“……Tsk. Finally someone I can talk to has appeared.”

Namgung Su, whose expression became much softer at Baek Riyun’s appearance, glanced at the lump of meat he had thrown on the table and spoke.

“Your disciple was rude to me. She threw that meat at my face. I want an apology.”

“Yes. I didn’t see it since I came midway, but I heard the story.”

“Then…….”

“But before that, isn’t there something that should be settled first? It’s the natural order to untie knots in the order they were tied.”

“……What do you mean by that?”

“I understood that Young Hero first showed disrespect to Senior Muryeonggaek, and Ryeong-i pointed that out. Isn’t that right?”

At Baek Riyun’s voice, Namgung Su, who had been silent for a moment, ground his teeth together.

“Are you also going with that story? Do you really think so? That that bastard did nothing wrong?”

“He did do wrong. He abandoned his mission and acted personally. However, I understand that Elder Muryeonggaek already received the punishment for that sin fifteen years ago. Then isn’t there nothing left to criticize him morally?”

At Baek Riyun’s grinning appearance, Namgung Su let out a hollow laugh.

“This is absurd. For someone your age who served as Changcheon Corps Commander to say such things. If you were in the military for that long, don’t you know? The moment when you must make a choice between two options is always……!”

“Yes. The moment of choice always comes. But Young Hero, the ten members of the Namgung Sword Corps surviving was more beneficial than five hundred villagers. Are you trying to make such a consequentialist argument?”

At Baek Riyun’s question, Namgung Su nodded.

“……That’s right. If those ten had been alive, they would have saved a thousand more people.”

“Then those words are wrong.”

“……What?”

Thud!

“Consequently speaking, this child who survived at that time will save more people than the ten members of the Namgung Sword Corps would have saved.”

“……Ha.”

Looking at Baek Riyun speaking while placing his hand on Dan Riyeon’s shoulder, Namgung Su shook his head.

“Can’t defeat even one Mujeongwando, and aside from being fast on her feet, that girl who has no decent skills will save a thousand people? Do you think that makes sense?”

“Is it hard to believe?”

“It’s beyond hard to believe or not, it’s impossible. That’s an obvious fact. She’d be lucky if she could manage half a person’s worth.”

“Then if this child accomplishes the work of two people, or three people, Young Hero’s words would be wrong.”

“That won’t happen.”

“Then, would you like to make a bet?”

“What?”

Baek Riyun, who let out a small laugh, slowly approached Namgung Su and cast his shadow.

“In the next competition’s second gate, if this child fails to accomplish the work of two people or more, it’s Young Hero’s victory. If that happens, not only Ryeong-i but I will also kneel before Young Hero and apologize. I’ll also educate them so this never happens again.”

“……You will?”

“Yes. However, if this child accomplishes the work of two people, or more.”

Baek Riyun, who paused for a moment, erased the smile from his face and whispered softly.

“Then at that time, Young Hero will kneel and apologize.”